Anecdotes

[baumbaug@nosc.mil (Joel T. Baumbaugh)]

     Two more short ones..

     1.   The "Hot" microwave.  A researcher (post-doc) is set to
do  his  experiment - its a relatively short one and  its  friday
A.M.  - plenty of time to crank it out and leave early!  He takes
his  H-3  stock vial (glass) out of the ultra-low (< -70  degrees
F.).   He's impatient.  He takes his stock vial over to the lab's
only Microwave and gives it a quick 5 minutes.  He takes the vial
out and (whoops!) it's cracked (and obviously leaking).

     He  does  not  say anything to anyone else in the  lab.   He
cleans  the  microwave  with  "409"  and  proceeds  on  with  his
experiment with what's left in his vial.

     Alas  and a lack, this is the lab's FOOD microwave (within a
posted "clean area" of the laboratory).

     Luckily,  the lab does its weekly survey at about 5:00  P.M.
that  night and, sure enough the microwave is contaminated (about
10,000  cpm  on  the timer switch - a re-check (wiping  the  M.W.
interior),  showed 250,000 cpm on a L.S.C. using a dry Whatman #1
filter  paper [cut in quarters] - about 75-80% efficiency).  They
call  me at home and I tell them to take urine samples of  anyone
who  used the microwave (& call me back with the results) and bag
the  microwave  until I can look at it on Monday.    Needless  to
say,  EVERYONE  in  the lab came in from home and  sampled  their
urine without any further prompting on my part.    Luckily, urine
samples  of  lab personnel showed very small amounts  of  tritium
(2-3  times background) ONLY in the 4 or 5 people who had  heated
their  food in the microwave.  Luckily, that day no tea was  made
and  only  food/coffee had been re-heated.  Boiling  water  would
have probably caused more exchange between the medium and the H-3
circulating in the microwave.

     It  took  a while for the person to confess to what he  did.
After   a  heart-felt  confession,  he  tried  to  re-clean  that
microwave  for  2  weeks before he gave it up to RADWASTE  to  be
crushed.  The tritium had gotten into the motor/fan assembly.  No
matter  how  well the inside was cleaned, when you turned on  the
motor  -  zip  -  it was dirty/contaminated  again.   It  was  an
expensive lesson for the post- doc in more ways than one.  He was
NOT a popular fellow.


     2.    Mouth  Pipetting:     I got a call at my  office  (for
once).   A female post-doc had just sucked (mouth-pipetted)  S-35
(translabel)  into her mouth.  Needless to say, when she realized
that  she had a "mouth-full" of radioisotope, she spit it out (in
a  glass  container  bye the way) and rinsed her mouth  out  with
water for about 10 minutes.
     When I arrived at her lab, I of course asked her WHY IN THE
HELL  DID  YOU MOUTH PIPETTE??? (pardon my language)    YOU  KNOW
BETTER!!

     Her answer was that the protocol/procedure she was following
was  pretty old and the directions said "mouth pipette".  She had
been  told  by  the  P.I, that if  she  followed  the  directions
exactly,  "nothing"  could go wrong!  Well, she was  leery  about
mouth  pipetting  a  radioisotope,  but  had  mouth  pipetted  in
high-school  and  college  chemistry labs - so she did  it  (boy,
those chemists!!!) I confiscated the mouth pipetter.

     Again we were lucky.  Urine samples showed background levels
for the next 3 days.


     Yes, as one person so aptly remarked earlier, these are like
old "war stories", but I have found them invaluable as tools when
I'm   teaching  lab  safety  classes.   People  listen  to  "real
stories"!

     Hey,  did  I ever tell you the one where the lab worker  who
did   not  use  radioisotopes  at  ALL  showed  up   (BIG   TIME)
contaminated  with radioiodine?  Or about the radioactive chewing
gum on the lab bench, or the P-32 contaminated tea bag I found in
a lab coat, or...


     Joel T. Baumbaugh (baumbaug@nosc.mil)
     NRaD
     San Diego, California

     Std. Disclaimer - My boss, the federal govt. and the Navy do
not necessarily agree with anything I have written above although
its all true...